A drawing of another experimental piece of apparatus is shown in Fig. 16. A pear-shaped bulb of German glass has near the small end an inner concave negative pole, A, of pure silver, so mounted that its inverted image is thrown upon the opposite end of the tube. In front of this pole is a screen of mica, C, having a small hole in the center, so that only a narrow pencil of rays from the silver pole can pass through, forming a bright spot, D, at the far end of the bulb. The exhaustion is about the same as in the previous tube, and the current has been allowed to pass continuously for many hours so as to drive off a certain portion of the silver electrode; and upon examination it is found that the silver has all been deposited in the immediate neighborhood of the pole; while the spot, D, at the far end of the tube, that has been continuously glowing with phosphorescent light, is practically free from silver.

The experiment is too lengthy for me to repeat it here, so I shall not attempt it; but I have on the table the results for examination.

The identity of action of silver and aluminum in the first case, and the non-projection of silver in this second instance, are in themselves sufficient to condemn Dr. Puluj's hypotheses, since they prove that phosphorescence is independent of the material of the negative electrode. In front of me is a set of tubes that to my mind puts the matter wholly beyond doubt. The tubes contain no inside electrodes with the residual gaseous molecules; and with them I will proceed to give some of the most striking radiant-matter experiments without any inner metallic poles at all.

In all these tubes the electrodes, which are of silver, are on the outside, the current acting through the body of the glass. The first tube contains gas only slightly rarefied and at the stratification stage. It is simply a closed glass cylinder, with a coat of silver deposited outside at each end, and exhausted to a pressure of 2 millimeters. The outline of the tube is shown in Fig. 17. I pass a current, and, as you see, the stratifications, though faint, are perfectly formed.

The next tube, seen in outline in Fig. 18, shows the dark space. Like the first it is a closed cylinder of glass, with a central indentation forming a kind of hanging pocket and almost dividing the tube into two compartments. This pocket, silvered on the air side, forms a hollow glass diaphragm that can be connected electrically from the outside, forming the negative pole, A; the two ends of the tube, also outwardly silvered, form the positive poles, B B. I pass the current, and you will see the dark space distinctly visible. The pressure here is 0.076 millimeter, or 100 M. The next stage, dealing with more rarefied matter, is that of phosphorescence. Here is an egg-shaped bulb, shown in Fig 19, containing some pure yttria and a few rough rubies. The positive electrode, B, is on the bottom of the tube under the phosphorescent material; the negative, A, is on the upper part of the tube. See how well the rubies and yttria phosphorescence shows under molecular bombardment, at an internal pressure of 0.00068 millimeter, or 0.9 M.

A shadow of an object inside a bulb can also be projected on to the opposite wall of the bulb by means of an outside pole. A mica cross is supported in the middle of the bulb (Fig. 20), and on connecting a small silvered patch, A, on one side of the bulb with the negative pole of the induction coil, and putting the positive pole to another patch of silver, B, at the top, the opposite side of the bulb glows with a phosphorescent light, on which the black shadow of the cross seems sharply cut out. Here the internal pressure is 0.00068 millimeter, or 0.9 M.

Passing to the next phenomenon, I proceed to show the production of mechanical energy in a tube without internal poles. It is shown in Fig. 21 (P = 0.001 millimeter, or 1.3 M). It contains a light wheel of aluminum, carrying vanes of transparent mica, the poles, A B, being in such a position outside that the molecular focus falls upon the vanes on one side only. The bulb is placed in the lantern and the image is projected on the screen; if I now pass the current, you see the wheels rotate rapidly, reversing in direction as I reverse the current.

Here is an apparatus (Fig. 22) which shows that the residual gaseous molecules when brought to a focus produce heat. It consists of a glass tube with a bulb blown at one end and a small bundle of carbon wool, C, fixed in the center, and exhausted to a pressure of 0.000076 millimeter, or 0.1 M. The negative electrode, A, is formed by coating part of the outside of the bulb with silver, and it is in such a position that the focus of rays falls upon the carbon wool. The positive electrode, B, is an outer coating at the other end of the tube. I pass the current, and those who are close may see the bright sparks of carbon raised to incandescence by the impact of the molecular stream.

You thus have seen that all the old "radiant matter" effects can be produced in tubes containing no metallic electrodes to volatilize. It may be suggested that the sides of the tube in contact with the outside poles become electrodes in this case, and that particles of the glass itself may be torn off and projected across, and so produce the effects. This is a strong argument, which fortunately can be tested by experiment. In the case of this tube (Fig. 23, P = 0.00068 millimeter, or 0.9 M), the bulb is made of lead glass phosphorescing blue under molecular bombardment. Inside the bulb, completely covering the part that would form the negative pole, A, I have placed a substantial coat of yttria, so as to interpose a layer of this earth between the glass and the inside of the tube. The negative and positive poles are silver disks on the outside of the bulb, A being the negative and B the positive poles. If, therefore, particles are torn off and projected across the tube to cause phosphorescence, these particles will not be particles of glass, but of yttria; and the spot of phosphorescent light, C, on the opposite side of the bulb will not be the dull blue of lead glass, but the golden yellow of yttria.

You see there is no such indication; the glass phosphoresces with its usual blue glow, and there is no evidence that a single particle of yttria is striking it.

Witnessing these effects I think you will agree I am justified in adhering to my original theory, that the phenomena are caused by the radiant matter of the residual gaseous molecules, and certainly not by the torn-off particles of the negative electrode.